PROVIDENCE – Weekly wages in Rhode Island in the second quarter of 2018 totaled $998, $57 less than the national average weekly wage of $1,055, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday.
The average weekly wage in Rhode Island increased 1.7 percent year over year, compared with a national wage year-over-year increase of 3.4 percent. Rhode Island ranked No. 19 for highest wage in the United States. The Ocean State ranked No. 47 for its year-over-year 1.7 percent wage growth rate.
In Rhode Island, Providence County had the highest weekly wage at $1,033, a 1.7 percent increase from one year prior. Providence County had employment of 289,299 in the second quarter.
Year-over-year data was only provided for counties with 75,000 employed or more, designated as “large counties.” Rhode Island had two large counties in the quarter, Providence and Kent.
Newport County had the second-highest weekly wage in the state at $975. Newport had employment of 43,421 in the second quarter.
Kent County, the second of the two large counties in the state, had the third-highest average weekly wage in the state at $906, a 0.9 percent increase from one year prior. Employment in the county was 77,244 for the quarter.
The fourth-highest average weekly wage in Rhode Island in the quarter was in Washington County at $904 with an employment of 56,604.
The lowest average weekly wage of counties in Rhode Island was in Bristol County at $840. Employment was 13,784.
In Bristol County, Mass., the average weekly wage for the quarter was $975, a 2.3 percent increase year over year. Employment in the county was 232,800.
Nationally, Santa Clara County, Calif., had the highest average weekly wage at $2,573. More than two-thirds of the 349 counties measured in the BLS survey reported wages lower than the national average.
